Wisconsin U.S. Senator Ron Johnson says the militant Islamic state of Iraq called “ISIS” must be eradicated, or they’ll eventually export terrorists to the United States. Mike Simonson reports.

Johnson says there is no negotiating with ISIS. He says they must be defeated.

“They are evil. They are barbarians. ISIS’s diplomacy consists of beheading, and then they put those heads on stakes. Crucifixions. If they’re not conducting mass executions, they’re burying people alive.”

Johnson says even if Iraq’s new president pulls together a coalition government, he doubts there’ll be a political solution to end the threat of ISIS or save Iraq.

“It is such a confusing situation. Shiites versus Sunnis. You’ve got the Arab states versus Iran. Again, I can’t tell you what the eventual solution’s going to be. I appreciate the fact that President Obama is finally acting.”

He says part of an eventual solution is a coalition of Arab and NATO nations lead by the United States. But Johnson doesn’t favor more U.S. troops in Iraq, at least not now. He does support the presence of the 1000 troops already there and the U.S. airstrikes. He’s trying to warn people in a tour of town hall meetings around the state this month but he says most people don’t understand the extent of the danger and are war-weary.

“I mean, I understand that. But I try to tell people, you know, we may be war-weary, but the terrorists aren’t. They are actually energized by the gains that they’ve made in Syria and now as ISIS now has spilled out of Syria into Iraq. That is really helping their recruitment efforts. I’m just trying to convey the danger that awaits America if we ignore this gathering storm.”

The freshman Republican sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Johnson is having town hall meetings Wednesday in Hurley High School at noon, at the Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center west of Ashland at 3 and at UW-Barron County in Rice Lake at 6:30.